Marian \u27Spiritual Attitude\u27 and Marian Piety

As Marialis Cultus would seem to assert, ideally Marian spirituality and Marian devotion are united, yet they are distinct. Pope Paul VI wrote of a Marian “spiritual attitude” that Mary is “a most excellent exemplar of the Church in the order of faith, charity and perfect union with Christ, that is, of that interior disposition with which the Church, the beloved spouse, closely associated with her Lord, invokes Christ and through Him worships the eternal Father.” Humble handmaid of the Lord (Lk. 1:38), she is “a teacher of the spiritual life for individual Christians.” Of “exercises of piety,” constituting “different forms of devotion to the Blessed Virgin,” he wrote that “love for the Church will become love for Mary, and vice versa, since the one cannot exist without the other.” She is the woman whom “the faithful honor [as] the Mother of the Lord” in whose fiat, in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, “mankind begins its return to God,” recognizing “in the glory of the all-holy Virgin the goal towards which it is journeying.

Using Multi-Disciplinary Design Challenges to Enhance Self-Efficacy within a Summer STEM Outreach Program

Research regarding STEM programs has shown that participating in these programs leads to increased knowledge and retention of technological concepts [1]. Additionally, participating in STEM programs leads to increased self-confidence, satisfaction, and interest in engineering [2]. Current research focuses on whether participating in STEM programs increases self-efficacy [3]. However, several factors can influence the effectiveness of these programs. For example, motivation influences the degree to which participants are engaged with activities as does their background knowledge [4]. Additionally, program effectiveness is impacted by the limitations of the learning context itself such that participants will be unable to complete designs if expectations for the design exceed the constraints of their environment [4]. The program is designed to introduce and educate the participants in the various engineering disciplines offered at the collegiate level and culminates in a multi-disciplinary design challenge designed as a “collaborative-benefit” competition [5]. The program is meant to drive students toward collaboration and achievement of a shared goal. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of an intensive, two-week project-based engineering program for high school students on self-efficacy and engineering identity in the participants. Results from this year’s survey suggest that participating in the program increased high school students’ perceived and actual knowledge of the engineering discipline. Completing the program also led to improvements in self-efficacy and increased interest in the field of engineering. This paper will discuss the process for developing design challenges for assessment of self-efficacy, assessment tools, and outcomes from the program delivery.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Oxidation kinetics of methylphosphonic acid in supercritical water : experimental measurements and model development

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, February 2004.Includes bibliographical references.(cont.) at well-defined operating conditions and to develop. both microscopic and macroscopic models, ranging from regressed global models to an elementary reaction mechanism, to quantify MPA oxidation kinetics in supercritical water. MPA hydrolysis and oxidation rates were experimentally measured in a laboratory-scale plug flow reactor. The effects of MPA concentration (0.5 to 1.0 mM), oxygen concentration (1.0 to 3.8 mM), temperature (478 to 572⁰C) and pressure (138 to 277 bar) on oxidation rates were determined for residence times ranging from 3.0 to 9.5 s. Conversion due to hydrolysis was less than 6% after [tau]=7 s at all temperatures studied. For [tau]=7 s at stoichiometric conditions and P=246 bar, low conversion (X<30% at [tau]=10 s) was observed at T<503⁰C, while almost complete conversion (X=99%) occurred at T=571⁰C. The only phosphorus-containing product was phosphoric acid, while the carbon-containing intermediates, carbon monoxide and methane, were present in varying concentrations in addition to final carbon-containing product, carbon dioxide. Methane was only a minor product, with a carbon yield less than 20% at all experimental conditions. MPA oxidation rates varied with oxygen concentration and pressure (or water density), but were relatively independent of initial MPA concentration. A global MPA oxidation rate law was regressed from the data with its dependence on temperature, MPA concentration, oxygen concentration, and water concentration quantified ...Above its critical point (Tc=374⁰C, Pc=221 bar), the physical properties of pure water change drastically from liquid-like to dense gas-like behavior. Supercritical water is a nonpolar solvent with moderate densities (approximately 0.1 g/mL) and gas-like diffusivities and viscosities. Above 450⁰C, radical pathways dominate due to the higher temperatures and decreased ionic reaction rates when the ion-dissociation constant of water is less than 10⁻¹⁹. Supercritical water is employed as an oxidation medium for the destruction of dilute organic aqueous waste streams because organic compounds and gases are both soluble in supercritical water. Oxidation proceeds quickly and completely without interphase mass transfer limitations, with characteristic reaction times of one minute needed for total conversion of C/H/N/O organic compounds to water, carbon dioxide, and molecular nitrogen. With this as a motivation, the supercritical water oxidation kinetics of the model organophosphorus compound, methylphosphonic acid (MPA or PO(OH)₂CH₃), was the primary focus of this thesis. Organophosphorus oxidation in supercritical water is being considered as a destruction method for stockpiled organophosphorus chemical warfare agents. MPA is a refractory intermediate and its reaction kinetics are important for the complete oxidation of larger organophosphorus compounds. Previous experimental MPA oxidation studies focused on determining the conditions necessary to achieve high destruction efficiencies at excess oxygen and long residence times. The primary goal of our research was to improve the mechanistic understanding of MPA oxidation kinetics in supercritical water. Our approach was to experimentally measure MPA oxidation rates and product yieldsby Patricia A. Sullivan.Ph.D

Meeting the needs of students with disabilities experiencing homelessness: Federal, community, and educator roles

Homelessness is a complex and multifaceted condition that affects 2.5 million, or one in every 30, children annually. Based on these numbers, it is likely that at least one student has experienced or is experiencing homelessness in most public school classrooms. Sixteen percent of students experiencing homelessness also received services under IDEA in 2014. Authors describe how homelessness impacts the outcomes of students-particularly those with disabilities, what federal policies and protections exist, and how communities lend support. One hallmark of special education, and an essential strategy for serving students experiencing homelessness, is a team approach. Thus, the authors conclude with five practical, team-based tips for school personnel, based on the acronym HOMES, to help ensure they are providing the supports and services these students need

Institutional Critique: A Rhetorical Methodology for Change

We offer institutional critique as an activist methodology for changing institutions. Since institutions are rhetorical entities, rhetoric can be deployed to change them. In its effort to counter oppressive institutional structures, the field of rhetoric and composition has focused its attention chiefly on the composition classroom, on the department of English, and on disciplinary forms of critique. Our focus shifts the scene of action and argument to professional writing and to public discourse, using spatial methods adapted from postmodern geography and critical theory

Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1-Alpha Reduces Infarction and Attenuates Progression of Cardiac Dysfunction After Myocardial Infarction in the Mouse

ObjectivesThe aim of this research was to test whether constitutive expression of hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha (HIF-1α) influences infarction size and cardiac performance after myocardial infarction.BackgroundA major question in clinical medicine is whether infarction size and border zone remodeling of the heart can be influenced by the overexpression of specific genes in the peri-infarction region.MethodsWe investigated the role of constitutive HIF-1α expression in acute myocardial infarction using a transgenic model. Transgenic mice containing the HIF-1α gene under the control of the α-myosin heavy chain promoter were constructed. Myocardial infarction was produced by coronary ligation in HIF-1α transgenic mice and control animals. Extent of infarction was then quantitated by two-dimensional and M-mode echocardiography as well as by molecular and pathologic analysis of heart samples in infarct, peri-infarct, and remote heart regions at serial time points.ResultsConstitutive overexpression of HIF-1α in the murine heart resulted in attenuated infarct size and improved cardiac function 4 weeks after myocardial infarction. Significantly, we found an increase in both capillary density as well as vascular endothelial growth factor and inducible nitric oxide synthase expression in peri-infarct and infarct regions in the hearts of constitutive HIF-1α–expressing animals compared to control animals.ConclusionsThese observations suggest the involvement of HIF-1α in myocardial remodeling and peri-infarct vascularization. Our results show that supranormal amounts of this peptide protect against extension of infarction and improve border zone survival in myocardial infarction